Serbian Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic announced that the small and mid-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Serbia will be approved the first installment of the European Investment Bank (EIB) loan of EUR 250 million via home business banks next week.

The loans for the SMEs will be approved at rather favorable interest rates and reimbursement period to seven years, the prime minister said in the parliament on Thursday, stressing that one of the main problems of the domestic economy is a lack of favorable loans.

The government will encourage the SMEs to export in cooperation with the Post of Serbia, which will introduce a simplified procedure for packages whose value is under EUR 1000 for which the exporter will need to fill in only two forms, Cvetkovic recalled.

Cvetkovic called for the local taxes which are set by municipality and cities to be adjusted to the SME financial abilities. Cvetkovic recalled that the government adopted Thursday a regulation which will limit the financial obligation maturity to 60 days that should also help the development of SMEs in Serbia.